Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

²Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

³“What did Moses command you?” he replied.

⁴They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

⁵“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied.

⁶“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’

⁷‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

⁸and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.

¹¹He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.

¹²And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁵Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

¹⁶And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

¹⁷As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

²⁰“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²²At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

²⁸Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

²⁹“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

³²They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

³³“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,

³⁴who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³⁷They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

³⁸“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

³⁹“We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,

⁴⁰but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

⁴²Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

⁴³Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

⁴⁶Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.

⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”

⁵⁰Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

⁵²“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

¹Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples.

²There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large.

³When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?” “We’re from Harran,” they replied.

⁵He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?” “Yes, we know him,” they answered.

⁶Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?” “Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”

⁷“Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

⁸“We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

⁹While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd.

¹⁰When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.

¹²He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

¹³As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things.

¹⁴Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,

¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.

¹⁸Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.”

²⁰So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.”

²²So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.

²³But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her.

²⁴And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.

²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.

²⁷Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”

²⁸And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

²⁹Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant.

³⁰Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless.

³²Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”

³³She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

³⁵She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

¹Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

²Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.

³For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

⁴though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:

⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;

⁶as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

⁷But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

¹⁰I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

¹¹and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

¹³Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

¹⁶Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.

¹⁸For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

¹⁹Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

¹Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,

²to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

³At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

⁴But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,

⁵he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

⁶whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

⁸This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

⁹But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.

¹⁰Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.

¹¹You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.

¹²As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.

¹³Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need.

¹⁴Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

¹⁵Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

¹“But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

²Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?

³Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.

⁴In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush.

⁵They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves.

⁶They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

⁷They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.

⁸A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.

⁹“And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.

¹⁰They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

¹¹Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.

¹²On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.

¹³They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. ‘No one can help him,’ they say.

¹⁴They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.

¹⁵Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.

¹⁶“And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.

¹⁷Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.

¹⁸In his great power God becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment.

¹⁹He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.

²⁰“I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.

²¹You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.

²²You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.

²³I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

²⁴“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.

²⁵Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?

²⁶Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.

²⁷The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.

²⁸I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.

³⁰My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.

³¹My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.

¹For the director of music. A song. A psalm. Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

²Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious.

³Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.

⁴All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name.”

⁵Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!

⁶He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot— come, let us rejoice in him.

⁷He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch the nations— let not the rebellious rise up against him.

⁸Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard;

⁹he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.

¹⁰For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver.

¹¹You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.

¹²You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.

¹³I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you—

¹⁴vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.

¹⁵I will sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and goats.

¹⁶Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.

¹⁷I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.

¹⁸If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;

¹⁹but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.

²⁰Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

¹The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an inspired utterance. This man’s utterance to Ithiel: “I am weary, God, but I can prevail.

²Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding.

³I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!

⁵“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

⁷“Two things I ask of you, LORD; do not refuse me before I die:

⁸Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

⁹Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

¹⁰“Do not slander a servant to their master, or they will curse you, and you will pay for it.

¹¹“There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers;

¹²those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth;

¹³those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful;

¹⁴those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth and the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵“The leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry. “There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:

¹⁶the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’

¹⁷“The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸“There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰“This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

²¹“Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:

²²a servant who becomes king, a godless fool who gets plenty to eat,

²³a contemptible woman who gets married, and a servant who displaces her mistress.

²⁴“Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise:

²⁵Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;

²⁶hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags;

²⁷locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks;

²⁸a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹“There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing:

³⁰a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing;

³¹a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt.

³²“If you play the fool and exalt yourself, or if you plan evil, clap your hand over your mouth!

³³For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.”

¹And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

²Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.

³The king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁴The king of Egypt made Eliakim, a brother of Jehoahaz, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.

⁵Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God.

⁶Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

⁷Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon articles from the temple of the LORD and put them in his temple there.

⁸The other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, the detestable things he did and all that was found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.

⁹Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.

¹⁰In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, together with articles of value from the temple of the LORD, and he made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.

¹²He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the LORD.

¹³He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁴Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the LORD, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵The LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.

¹⁶But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

¹⁷He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁸He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials.

¹⁹They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

²⁰He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

²¹The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.

²²In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

²³“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “ ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the LORD their God be with them.’ ”

¹Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.

²They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance.

³Therefore, the LORD says: “I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

⁴In that day people will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song: ‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’ ”

⁵Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD to divide the land by lot.

⁶“Do not prophesy,” their prophets say. “Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”

⁷You descendants of Jacob, should it be said, “Does the LORD become impatient? Does he do such things?” “Do not my words do good to the one whose ways are upright?

⁸Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care, like men returning from battle.

⁹You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever.

¹⁰Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy.

¹¹If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ that would be just the prophet for this people!

¹²“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.

¹³The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.”

¹When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia.

²He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece,

³where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.

⁶But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.

⁹Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead.

¹⁰Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!”

¹¹Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left.

¹²The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.

¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus.

¹⁶Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.

¹⁹I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.

²⁰You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.

²¹I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

²³I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

²⁵“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.

²⁶Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.

²⁷For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

²⁹I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

³⁰Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

³¹So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

³²“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.

³⁵In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

³⁶When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.

³⁷They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him.

³⁸What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.